Innsbruck

Monday

It was a bit of a blessing that our bags didn't end up making it to Innsbruck with us, because then we didn't have to carry them through the city. We didn't get them as soon as we had hoped, but they did finally arrive at our hostel Tuesday evening. Turns out it isn't so hard to manage with just one outfit for two whole days. No makeup, no medicine, one iPhone charger, no socks, one pair of underwear. And yet we managed and actually really enjoyed it. But I was glad when they did come and it was nice to put on a clean shirt.

Monday evening, after we checked in to the hostel, we walked around the city and realized that our hostel really was very very close to all of the main sights. We were able to see the Goldenes Dachl (roof) right away and some churches and important statues that were nearby. In front of a statue called St. Anne's column, Michael said something about how he never asked anyone to take his picture by any landmarks during the rest of his trip when he was by himself.  A nearby local girl heard us (which is not surprising since we Americans tend to be very loud) and said " shall I take your picture?" We were mildly embarrassed but laughed a lot and said yes, thanks! And so now we have a lovely photo :)

After that we walked more and found ourselves at a cool plaza/fountain/skatepark near the triumphforte (the iconic landmark in Innsbruck, which depicts on one side, wedding festivities of a prince, but because his father died during the celebration, the other side of the arch depicts the great sadness).

Having found ourselves in this wide open and beautiful plaza, it only made sense to play hackysack. Basically Michael is the best hacky buddy I've ever had.  When I was in Europe before, I played by myself many many times, and always wanted a friend to join me. Now he and I can hacky all over Europe :)

So far the list of places we've played is the Larsen's house, King's Garden in Copenhagen, and that skate park. Im sure we'll be adding to it soon.


Anyway, after hacky, we went to pick up food but didn't realize it was a holiday on Monday (Whitsunday) so everything closed very early. We just barely made it to a supermarket to buy cheese, peppers and some apples. Back at the hostel, Michael cooked up a nice dinner of pasta with the aforementioned ingredients and some spices he had bought earlier during his trip.

And thus concluded our first day in Innsbruck :)


Tuesday was a beautiful day, but it's a good thing we both wore layers because we  ended up on top of a mountain and, who would've guessed, it was really cold!! It was windy and there was snow, but it was completely worth it. We had an amazing view of Innsbruck and of the river Inn that runs through Innsbruck (can you guess where the city gets its name?) We spent a lot of time hanging out on the mountain, watching sheep, pointing out different mountains, walking around in the snow and of course, taking tons of pictures. Finally our fingers and noses got cold enough that we took the cable car partway down the mountain and explored the village of Hungerburg. We were just planning to look at some houses and take more pictures but we stumbled upon a cute little church so we examined it from the outside and, when we saw that the side door was open, we explored the inside too. We were incredibly lucky to be approached by a man who turned out to be the pastor of the little church. He told us all about the different frescoes on the walls and the history of the church itself. There was a small language barrier but he did pretty well speaking English and we loved hearing all about this church and area that he obviously loves. He even asked if we were hungry and invited us in for cake and coffee. Neither of us actually drinks coffee, but how could we say no to that?? So we accepted and had a wonderful time eating cake from a local restaurant and some bread that a nun at the church baked. We chatted of our trip, his trip to the US (North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia), more history of the church, McDonald's, skiing and the most important things to see in Innsbruck. We must stayed for over an hour but when when finished the cake and bread and coffee and homemade lemon "citron", a refreshing natural lemon juice, Peter walked us all the way down to the cable car station. He pointed out interesting buildings and told us stories on the way.  As I'm sure Michael will mention in his future guest post in my blog, it was all in all an accidentally awesome encounter